Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (86-59) dropped the second game of this three game set against the Chicago Cubs (75-70) last night by a score of 6-3 in a rather ugly loss. They hadn’t lost a series in over a month, since losing two of three to the Phillies August 5-7. A disastrous five-run eighth inning started with a walk, followed by a weak and wide throw to first by Austin Barnes, a single that featured either an errant throw by Tommy Edman, a miscommunication by either Miguel Rojas, or Max Muncy, or all of the above, and an Kiké Hernández error. The result was ultimately, a sloppy loss. Despite all that, the Dodgers might’ve been able to win that game if the Cubs had a league-average defensive center fielder instead of Pete Crow-Armstrong. He was covering so much ground in center field it felt as if Chicago had four outfielders. He’s obviously a special talent in the outfield, and saved at least a few runs last night.
Tonight Bobby Miller will take the mound, looking to right the ship for the Dodgers and prevent a sweep. The left-handed Jordan Wicks will start for Chicago, hoping to keep the Cubs in the Wild Card race.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| LF | Happ (S) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| SS | Swanson | RF | Betts |
| DH | Suzuki | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| RF | Bellinger (L) | LF | T. Hernández |
| 3B | Parades | CF | Edman (S) |
| 1B | Busch (L) | C | Smith |
| 2B | Hoerner | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| CF | Crow-Armstrong (L) | SS | Rojas |
| C | Bethancourt | 2B | Taylor |
| P | Wicks (L) | P | Miller (R) |
The Cubs will run out a nearly identical lineup as last night, with the lone change being Christian Bethancourt starting at catcher over Miguel Amaya. The Cubs struck out just twice over the final five innings of last night’s game after striking out eight times in four innings against Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
The Dodgers will also send out a similar lineup, as they’re once again facing a left-handed starter in Wicks. The most notable difference will be Teoscar Hernández returning to the lineup and batting cleanup after being removed from last Friday’s game after being hit in the foot. Chris Taylor will get the start at second base.
Edman is coming off a two homer game which boosted his season slash line to .293/.316/.427, for an above-average .743 OPS and 107 wRC+. Edman has pretty limited splits over his career as a switch hitter, but so far he has a 1.223 OPS against left-handed pitchers, and a .504 OPS against right-handed pitching. I’m sure it’ll even out eventually, but it’s nice to see him tap into some power regardless. Muncy hit a home run off the lefty Shota Imanaga last night, his second homer against left-handed pitching in the last three games. He’s struggled against left-handed pitching this season and the team would benefit if they didn’t have to platoon him in the playoffs.
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Here’s how Miller and Wicks match up.
Miller has obviously had a very poor season. A 7.79 ERA over nearly 50 innings for Miller seems like it should be impossible, yet nearly every time he takes the mound, the opposing team finds a way to tag him for a handful of runs. He allowed seven runs on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts over five innings his last time out against…the Angels. He allowed five runs in the first inning, including one of the eventual three homers he allowed. He settled in after the first but the damage was already done. If we’re looking for a positive, the strikeouts and whiffs are encouraging. When he’s sharp, those will come naturally. With Gavin Stone, Tyler Glasnow, and Clayton Kershaw all still on the injured list and Walker Buehler looking rough, Miller still somehow has time to put a few starts together and make a case for the postseason roster. There simply isn’t anymore time for blowup outings if he wants to pitch meaningful innings in October however.
Wicks was the Cubs’ first round pick in 2021, the 21st overall selection, and he’s making just his ninth start on the year. He pitched in the bigs a similar amount last year, with a 4.41 ERA over 34.2 innings pitched. He’s still just 25 years-old and looking to finish the season strong to prove he belongs in the rotation in 2025 and beyond. He’s been better as a whole this year, but missed nearly three months with an oblique strain, making his return from the IL on 9/1. He took the loss his last time out, allowing three runs on five hits and four walks over five innings. He’s allowed a total of four earned runs over ten innings since returning from the IL, so he’ll be looking to build on that and finish the season strong.
He sits sits in the low-90’s with his four-seam fastball and sinker, going to one of those two nearly 60% of the time. His primary off-speed pitch is a low-80’s changeup, throwing it 26% of the time and almost exclusively to right-handed batters. He throws two breaking-balls, albeit infrequently, going to a slider 9% of the time and a curveball making up the remaining 5% of his arsenal.
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Sounds like Joe Kelly is getting close to a return, which is good because someone needs to eat innings in blowouts.
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First pitch is at 7:10 PT on SNLA.
